Grapevine’s Best Of 2017: Best Sushi Restaurant

One of the most-asked questions by visitors to Iceland is: “Where do we eat?” It’s a tough question to answer, as Reykjavík has restaurants catering to many different palettes, and on top of that, it seems like they’re always rising and falling in popularity for one reason or another. But we try to stay on top of things where eating out is concerned. With the help of a panel of self-proclaimed experts, we’ve been able to piece together a guide that gives you a pretty good idea of what’s here in 2017. Use the guide, check out the Facebook page of restaurants and make reservations, if need be, for a true epicurean experience in Reykjavík. And if you have recommendations to the contrary, then drop us a line. We are listening. And we’re hungry.

Winner

FiskmarkaðurinnAðalstræti 12Helmed by one of Iceland’s best-known chefs, Hrefna Sætran, Fiskmarkaðurinn (The Fish Market) is hands down our panel’s favourite sushi restaurant in town. We suggest making a meal of just the sashimi platter: beautifully presented at the table with a lot of flair, deftly sliced fatty salmon and trout, and glistening scallop are mercifully left unadorned, with a sprinkle of roe here and a delicious mound of wakame there. Pair this with the wasabi cocktail and you have a light, refreshing meal.

Runners Up

SakebarinnLaugavegur 2Housed in a beautiful old timber house in the heart of downtown, Sakebarinn’s window seats alone should be reason enough to drop by. They do a variety of sauce-laden sushi rolls—the local favourite—but we recommend sticking to the sushi and sashimi platter. Wash it down with their saké selection.

Sushi SocialÞingholtsstræti 5Formerly known as Sushi Samba, this Japanese/South American fusion place had to change their name recently—but there’s still plenty of samba in the menu. Everything comes with lots of lime, sauce and chilli, their tempura batter is pleasingly light, and the exhaustive cocktail menu should help any sushi purists through the fusion-cooking trauma.